Filing cabinets



June 5, 1956 w. RITZERFELD ET AL FILING CABINETS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 30, 1952 INVSHZOFs; M M R/ T'ZEAFELO 6 676441440 2/ TZER FELD June 5, 1956 w. RITZERFELD ET AL FILING CABINETS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 50, 1952 Fig.4

Fig. 6

664M740 4/7254 FELD United States Patent '0 FILING CABINETS Wilhelm Ritzerfeld, Berlin-Dahlem, and Gerhard Ritzerfeld, Berlin-Grunewald, Germany Application April 30, 1952, Serial No. 285,162

Claims. (Cl. 312-327) The invention relates to filing cabinets.

It is an object of the invention to provide a filing cabinet which, when shut, allows storing of forms, files and the like and, when open, renders the same easily accessible and ready for being grasped.

It is another object of the invention to provide a filing cabinet including pivotally mounted file holding means which enables a user of a typewriter, accounting machine, work-planning machine or duplicating machine, which are operated by the user while sitting, or a user writing on a writing desk, easily to grasp forms, files, drawings and the like stored in the filing cabinet without substantially altering his sitting position.

It is another object of the present invention to provide in the file holding means shelves having walls which extend upwardly in any position of the file holding means.

With these objects in view the present invention mainly consists in a filing cabinet comprising, in combination, a casing having a front opening; and file holding means arranged substantially within the casing and mounted thereon turnable about a horizontal axis between inoperative and operative positions, the file holding means including a front wall arranged so as to close the front opening in inoperative position of the file holding means, and a plurality of parallel wall means extending in inoperative position of the file holding means from the front wall rearwardly and upwardly so that upon moving of the top end of the front wall forwardly and downwardly, the file holding means turn into operative position in which the front wall is upwardly and rearwardly inclined and the wall means project from the inclined front wall in forwardly and upwardly inclined direction.

Preferably, the horizontal turning axis passes substantially through the center of gravity of the file holding means.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art when reading the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate some embodiments of the invention by way of example and in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the invention having a tiltable file holding means;

Fig. 2 illustrates a detail of the embodiment of Fig. 1 on a larger scale;

Fig. 3 illustrates the embodiment of Fig. 1 with the file holding means in a different position;

Fig. 4 is a side view of another embodiment having an elongated guide hole for the file holding means of the filing cabinet;

Fig. 5 illustrates the embodiments of Fig. 4 with the box in a difierent position;

Fig. 6 illustrates still a further embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 7 illustrates in greater detail a preferred construction of the file holding means.

Referring now to the drawing, the filing cabinet according to the illustrated embodiment comprises a file holding box which is rotatable around a pivot 7 as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The file holding means comprises a bottom 8, side walls 9 and end walls. The s de walls 9 of the file holding box are pivotally supported on the side walls of the casing 1 by fixed pivot pins 7, as best seen in Fig. 2. Pins 7 are threaded and threadedly engaged bushings 7a which have an inner thread and are fixedly secured to the side walls 9 of the file holding box. Consequently, pivoting of the file holding box will effect turning of the side walls 9 on the threaded pins 7 while the bushings 7a are screwed onto the pins 7 a short distance in axial direction. The thread on the pins 7 serves as a spacing means for spacing the side walls 9 of the file holding box from the side walls of the casing 1. When the cabinet is in closed position, the bottom 8 of the box also forms the front wall of the filing cabinet, and the front wall 10 of the box forms a movable top wall portion of the top of the filing cabinet. Compartments or shelves are formed by wall means 6 for holding forms and files, in the closed vertical position of the file holding means 8, 9, 10, the wall means 6 are inclined upwards at an acute angle so that the forms and files cannot fall out of the compartments when the filing cabinet has been shut. A rear wall 11 of each individual compartment 6 is so inclined that when the filing cabinet has been opened an inserted staple of forms or files fans out or spreads for facilitating grasping the individual sheets as can best be recognized from Fig. 3. The file holding means are turned between the closed position of Fig. l and the operative position of Fig. 3 about pivots 7 which are located intermediate the top and bottom ends, and substantially in the center of gravity of the file holding means.

In order to limit the rotation of the file holding means when the filing cabinet is opened or shut, the construction is such that, as can be seen from Figs. 1 and 3, on opening of the filing cabinet the outwards rotation of the file holding means is limited by the rear end wall of the file holding means abutting against the fixed lid portion 2 of the filing cabinet, while on shutting the filing cabinet the inward rotation of the box is limited by the top end wall 10 of the box abutting against the lid portion 2 of the filing cabinet. According to a further refinement, the arrangement may be such that during the last part of the forward and backward rotations, the movement of the box is slowed down by springs or the like.

As can be seen from Figs. 4 and 5, the file holding means comprising the front wall 8, side walls 9 and the top wall 10 may be so arranged that it is not only rotatable around the fixed pivot 7 provided on the side walls 1 of the cabinet, but additionally comprises elongated guide slots 12 at its side walls 9 whereby to enable the box to protrude more or less from the casing 1.

Another way of displacing the pivot point of the box is illustrated in Fig. 6, in which levers 13 rotatable around the fixed pivot 7 are linked to the side walls 9 of the box.

In order to adapt the filing cabinet especiaily for use in connection with accounting work, small compartment forming casings 14 are provided for each kind of form or account sheet, as can be seen from Fig. 7, which compartrnent forming casings can be loosely inserted and shifted in the box so as to enable maintaining the arrangement of individual accounting cards by changing the positions of the loose casings, the arrangement being such that the first and last casings are fixed in the file holding box whereby to secure the positions of the other casings.

The side walls and the rear walls of the compartment casings 14 have the appropriate height required for the distances of the individual compartments from one another. The rear walls are preferably arranged rectangularly and, as is usual in connection with visible card 3 indexes, have one or two guide or fixing rails for receiving cards provided with the usual lateral recesses for fixing the same on the rails, the front edges of carrying boards being arranged for receiving tags or the like which otherwise are attached to the cards. I

In order to maintain the distance of the side walls of the filing cabinet required for a proper working when the rotatable box is rotated, the bearing for the rotatable file holding means is preferably constructed as a means for securing this distance. As shown in Fig. 2, thebearing portion of the bearing pivot pin 7 for the tiltable file holding means carriesscrew threads around which the bearing bushing 7a provided on the file holding means 9 is rotatable.

It should be clearly understood that the embodiments are given by way of example only and that many modification's, omissions and additions are possible without departing from the spirit of this invention.

We claim:

1. A filing cabinet comprising, in combination, a casing having a front opening; and file holding means arranged in closed position of said filing cabinet substantially within said casing, said file holding means including a front wall closing said front opening and parallel wall means extending from the rear face of said front wall rearwardly and upwardly for retaining files located between said wall means, said file holding means being mounted in said casing turnable about a horizontal turning axis extending in a plane parallel to said parallel wall means so that upon moving of the top end of said front wall forwardly and downwardly, said file holding means move to an operative position in which said front wall is forwardly and downwardly inclined with said rear face facing upwardly, and said wall means are forwardly and upwardly inclined said wall means being upwardly inclined during the entire turning movement of said file holding means, said horizontal axis being located intermediate the top and bottom ends of said front wall in the region of the center of gravity of said file holding means so that in said operative position the top end of said front wall projects out of said casing, and the bottom end of said front wall is located within said casing.

2. A filing cabinet as claimed in claim 1 and including a pair of supporting members pivotally secured at one pair of ends thereof to said casing, and pivotally secured at the other pair of ends thereof to said file holding means whereby the location of said turning axis may be shifted during turning of said file holding means.

3. A filing cabinet as claimed in claim 1 wherein said file holding means include a pair of spaced vertical side walls secured to said front wall, each side wall being formed with an elongated slot extending parallel to said front wall, and wherein said filing cabinet comprises a pair of horizontal pivot pins secured to said casing and projecting into said slots, said file holding means being turnable about said pivot pins and slidable in said operative position on said pivot pins out of and into said casing.

4. A filing cabinet as claimed in claim 1 wherein in said closed position of said file cabinet said front wall is verflea], and wherein said parallel wall means are in said closed position upwardly and rearwardly inclined in such manner as to define with said front wall acute angles.

5. A filing cabinet as claimed in claim 4 wherein said parallel wall means are closely spaced from each other so as to be adapted to retain even a small number of thin sheets.

6. A filing cabinet as claimed in claim 1 wherein said wall means include two end wall means fixedly secured to the top and bottom ends of said front wall, and a plurality of wall means located intermediate said end wall means and being detachably arranged in said file holding means between said end wall means and parallel to the same.

7. A filing cabinet as claimed in claim 1 and including a pair of pivot pins secured to said casing and supporting said file holding means for turning about said turning axis which passes through said piv'ot pins, said pivot pins spacing said file holding means from said casing.

8. A filing cabinet comprising, in combination, a casing having a front opening and including a pair of side walls; a pair of aligned horizontal threaded pins fixedly secured to said side Walls; and file holding means arranged in closed position of said filing cabinet substantially within said casing and including a pair of side walls, and nut means secured to said side walls intermediate the top and bottom ends of said file holding means in the region of the center of gravity of the same and being threadedly engaged by said threaded pins, said file holding means being turnable about the horizontal axis defined by said threaded pins between inoperative and operative positions, said side walls of said casing being spaced by said threaded pins from said side walls of said file holding means during turning, said file holding means including a front wall arranged so as to close said front opening in inoperative position of said file holding means, and a plurality of parallel wall means extending in inoperative position of said file holding means from said front wall rearwardly and upwardly so that upon moving of the top end of said front wall forwardly and downwardly, said file holding means turn into said operative position in which said wall means project from said inclined front wall in forwardly and upwardly inclined direction, said wall means being upwardly inclined during the entire turning movement of said file holding means.

9. A filing cabinet as claimed in claim 1 wherein said wall means have rear edges located in a plane extending forwardly and downwardly in said operative position of said file holding means.

10. A file cabinet as claimed in claim 1 wherein said casing is formed with an opening at the top thereof and wherein said file holding means includes a top wall secured to said front wall and closing said top opening in said closed position of said filing cabinet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 212,695 Hessler Feb. 25, 1879 368,877 Dake m.. Aug. 23, 1887 369,590 C1aypool Sept. 6, 1887 2,409,308 Paxton Oct. 15, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 230,046 Switzerland Dec. 15, 1943 

